


putting to rights

by sabinelagrande



Series: two flints [12]
Category: Taskmaster (UK TV) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Prostitution, Alternate Universe - Victorian, Developing Relationship, F/M, First Time, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:22:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26385568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabinelagrande/pseuds/sabinelagrande
Summary: Russell has to settle all of this, before the Taskmaster breaks his thumbs.
Relationships: Asim Chaudhry/Alice Levine, Asim Chaudhry/Russell Howard, Russell Howard/Alice Levine
Series: two flints [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1639948
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	putting to rights

Russell doesn't know immediately that Asim is seeing Alice.

He's very much doing it behind Russell's back, but it's not like Russell approves Asim's interests or something. Asim is his business partner and someone he counts as a friend, but he's not Asim's keeper. Asim can do what he likes, and it is Russell who is out of line for being aghast when he catches the two of them walking together, in the way of people who are Walking Together and not just walking in proximity to one another. They don't see him, but Russell sees the look on Asim's face, like he's blown away by her, like he's hanging on her words.

Russell has a lot of thoughts about it very quickly. It is not Russell's business. Asim is a grown man. He handles his own affairs, and as long as it doesn't become associated with their company, then it doesn't matter.

Only it's not that simple at all. Getting involved with someone from the House is precisely what the Taskmaster is going to break Russell's thumbs for letting Asim do. Russell likes his thumbs, and he also likes the fact that Asim has come so far. People do worse all the time, but that doesn't mean that Asim should. His father did all of this so that Asim could have a clean break, and Asim is sitting here getting involved with exactly the kind of person who's going to jeopardize that.

The idea that Russell is jealous is so patently ridiculous that Russell doesn't even entertain it.

Russell can't bring himself to say anything to Asim. He can't get Asim mad at him; mostly because it's bad for business, but also because he just doesn't want Asim mad at him. The best thing for him to do, he realizes more quickly than he wants to, is to go at it from the other side. And God help him, that's exactly what he does.

He is received at the House by Sally herself, who puts a hand on his arm and smiles warmly at him. "Come back to try our hospitality?" she says, smiling at him secretively.

"I wondered if I could talk to Alice?" he says.

"Oh, of course," Sally says. She raises her hand, beckoning, and Russell realizes that he missed Alice entirely. She's standing at the other end of the bar with the barman, both of them looking at Russell. The barman is looking him over exactly how Russell expects to be looked over by a barman in an establishment like this one. Russell does not begrudge him this. He figures it's probably the guy's job.

Alice walks over, joining the two of them. She brushes her hair out of her face, but it looks a little nervous. "Hi," she says.

"Evening," Russell says. "I, um-" He stalls out, not sure how to open this now that he's actually here.

"Is this gentleman a friend of yours?" Sally asks, still smiling.

"Um," Alice says, regarding Russell for a moment. "Not yet."

Sally inclines her head. "That's interesting," she says, walking away.

"I'm paying if I'm staying," Russell says, because that wasn't exactly subtle.

"Yep," Alice replies.

Russell shrugs, sighing. "Fuck it, I have the money."

"Then right this way," Alice says, leading Russell up the stairs. Following after her is not a hardship, but it's just the one flight. When he gets to the second floor, it's nothing like he expected; there's no one in view, just some closed doors. There's not even that much sound, other than a peal of male laughter.

Neither Alice nor Russell comment on this. She reaches a certain door and opens it. This is a little bit more like Russell expected; there's a bed and a basin and a wardrobe, nice stuff that goes with the general look of the House. It is still deeply bizarre to Russell that he's here, but he's not exactly shocked by anything that's going on right now.

"May I take your jacket?" Alice asks, with kind of a mischievous look, and Russell wonders if it's just that her resting state is mischievous.

"Oh," Russell says, caught off guard a little, and he shrugs out of it, handing it off to her. She puts it on a hook on the wall, and when she turns back, she looks expectant.

"What did you want to talk about?" Alice asks.

Fuck it, honestly. "Look, Asim's in love with you," Russell says. "I don't know if he's said, seems like the kind of thing he might just come out and say. But you need to know that."

"I already know," Alice says, smiling almost bashfully.

"Ah," Russell says, because he wasn't actually expecting that response. "Well. That's good."

"But you're in love with Asim," Alice says.

"Wait, what?" Russell says.

Alice's eyebrows go up. "You mean you didn't know that?"

"Um," Russell says. He is attracted to Asim in a way that is inconvenient, that is bad for business. Russell should at best be an older brother, someone who can help. "I sort of knew."

"And I don't make a habit of coming between people, not when I know them," Alice says. She gives Russell a keen look, up and down, and for a moment he's reminded of the Taskmaster. "Unless you want me to."

"In what sense?" Russell says, because his brain can supply some configurations, but he's not sure that's what she meant.

"If you love Asim, and Asim loves me," Alice says, adding, "He loves you too, obviously, but you already knew that."

"You have got to stop assuming I know things," Russell says. "I'm twice as thick as you take me for."

"Then why can't it be three of us?" Alice says, opening her hands.

"Did anyone ever tell you you are a lot?" Russell says.

"It usually wasn't a compliment," Alice says, cocking an eyebrow.

"That's not what I meant," Russell says. "I just find you so interesting." He shakes his head, trying to clear it. "This went in a weird direction that I wasn't expecting."

"What were you expecting?" Alice asks.

"I came to tell you this," Russell says. "I think you already know you're playing with fire." Alice's shoulders slump. "Asim's dad is in this very building right now, and he's going to flip out if he finds out about all this. I'm not here to tell you what to do, but I am also not going to stand by while Asim ruins his relationship with his father."

"Right," Alice says. She looks exhausted, and somehow, younger, even though he thinks she's probably Asim's age. He, for his part, feels a million years old, even though he's only a few years older than Asim. "I- I really don't want to hurt Asim or Greg." She exhales. "I'll step back. There's nothing else for it."

A wild idea is bubbling up in Russell's head. "What if there was something else for it?" he says, mostly to himself.

"Huh?" Alice says.

"Is this your vocation?" Russell says. He makes a sweeping motion. "All this. Is this your profession or your vocation? Do you feel called to do it?"

"Well," Alice says, looking a little confused.

"Be honest," Russell says. "The answer's going to matter, but I genuinely want to know what it is."

"I guess I'd have to say profession," Alice says. "It's just a job."

"And why are you doing it and not something else?" Russell says.

Alice thinks about it for a moment. "It's not very hard and I find the people interesting," she says. She shrugs. "And there's the fact that you don't really get to go back up once you've been down."

"What if I could plunk you down in a different part of London where no one would recognize you?" Russell says. "New profession. Place to live. All that."

"Like a kept woman?" Alice asks.

"No," Russell says. "Or yes, if that's your terms, it happens in some of our finest families. But Asim and I really do run a business, and finding work to do is never a problem."

"This is awfully big," Alice says.

Russell, who is at this point pacing the room as he puts this plan together, stops. "Fuck, sorry," he says, realizing how all that came across. "I am offering you a place in the company and an advance to get set up with a flat. I can't promise you what comes after that, other than that some of us seem to be in love with each other." He puts a hand on her shoulder, the first time he's actually touched her. "Please just tell me you'll think about it." He shuts his eyes. "You have no idea how much I just want to make everyone happy."

He feels Alice's arms slip around him. "I'll think about it," she says. "But please know that I realize all my alternatives involve sending Asim away."

"That's between you and Asim," Russell says, opening his eyes again to find her inches away.

"I really don't think it is," Alice says.

Russell is not in love with Alice, given the fact that he has spent barely any time with her. Up this close, the warmth of her against him, he thinks that, at some point in the future, he very well could be.

"You've barely been here any time," Alice says, inclining her head in a way that really shows off her lovely neck, a thing Russell wasn't fully sure he found lovely. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to?"

"D'ya know, I really would," Russell admits.

"Any reason why you wouldn't?" Alice says.

Russell takes a moment to really consider it. It is illegal, and also Alice is maybe his best friend's girlfriend, even though he's fairly sure both he and Alice want to make that situation a bit more complicated. 

"Nah," he says.

"That's alright, then," Alice says, her fingers working on his shirt buttons.

"We're not going to tell Asim about this until everything is settled," Russell says firmly. "If it doesn't get settled, we're not going to tell Asim at all."

"Agreed," Alice says. "Asim doesn't need to know about this unless it's a funny story we can tell."

"Oh, wasn't it strange when I came over to talk about Asim, and whoops! We slept together," Russell says.

"Like that," Alice says. "Something to make him laugh."

"He's got a good laugh," Russell says.

Alice smiles, bopping on him on the nose with one finger. "You're cute," she says.

Her deft hands keep working as she leans up and kisses his neck, gentle bites that feel wonderful. Quite without warning, Russell realizes he's stark naked, and Alice hasn't taken off a stitch. "You're not getting away with that," he says, and Alice laughs in surprise when he goes for her, undoing any lace or buckle that will have him until her clothes are falling to the floor.

Alice pushes back from him, going over and sitting at the edge of the bed. "How do you like it?" she asks, hands on the mattress, her legs crossed demurely at the ankles. "I'll do anything you want."

Russell gives her a look. "This is the last time we have sex that's asymmetrical."

"Are you intending to have asymmetrical sex now?" Alice says, amused. "Seems to me like that's up to you."

"How do _you_ like it?" Russell challenges.

She pulls him onto the bed. "Get on your back and stop thinking so hard."

"I wouldn't bank on that," Russell says, but he lays back. Alice kisses him on the forehead; there's an inconspicuous box sitting on the table next to the bed, and she reaches into it, coming out with something Russell is not unfamiliar with, though he's probably supposed to pretend to be. She slips it onto his cock, and he doesn't protest, especially when Alice strokes him through it.

"Are you ready?" Alice asks, brushing her hair back again with her free hand.

"Oh, absolutely," Russell says. Alice swings a leg over his hips, kneeing up; she bites her lip as he rubs circles on her clit. He can already feel how she's wet, and he slips a finger inside of her, watching how her eyelids flutter shut. She's stunning, but he wonders how it would sound if he said that, if it would sound like a reduction, just what she's getting paid for.

"Do you want me?" Russell says, which does not come out as intended, not at all, worlds more serious than Russell meant for it to be. 

Alice grins, taking him into her hand. "Yes, please," she says, and she positions herself over him. His fingers clutch her hip as she sinks down around him, moving nice and easy until he's all the way inside.

"Have you had sex with Asim?" Russell says, suddenly struck by it when he should really be paying attention to other things.

Alice shrugs, but she doesn't look terribly surprised. "Yeah."

"Sorry, I just realized I didn't know," Russell says. "Please, as you were."

Alice snorts, but she starts moving her hips. "You don't like not knowing, do you?"

"Absolutely bloody hate it," he says, pushing up into her.

It's good; it's better than good; it better be considering that Russell is in fact paying for it. He had no intention of it ending like this. He didn't even come here intending to spend anything, pictured instead maybe going up the street a little ways and explaining to Alice how things were in some half-lit alcove. He doesn't know how this would have ended without Sally's intervention, her unsubtle push that sent him up the stairs, into a conversation that he hadn't planned for, into Alice's bed. How it actually went is infinitely preferable, with Alice's body working on top of his and a whole world opened up that he had intended to snap shut for good.

"Next time," Alice says, breathless, but her eyes clear and bright, "with Asim."

"Oh fuck," Russell gasps. It didn't hit him, how much he wanted it, until he heard it just now. He's been pushing that away, too, anything untoward, anything past maybe a hug; he has a certain thing to maintain, a bubble of poise, and he feels like it's near to bursting, like it could just pop like nothing and leave him different.

Or maybe leave some room to let people- just the two- in.

Afterwards, Alice is laying with her head on his chest, and Russell runs his fingers through her thick hair, which is just as soft as it looks. "What's our plan?" he asks.

Alice considers this, drumming on his stomach with her fingertips, which makes him squirm. "We have the advantage in numbers."

"True," Russell says.

"We could ambush him," Alice suggests.

"Ambushes are more useful when you don't actually have the numerical advantage," Russell says, drumming on her head just to get her back.

"Then what is it when you surprise someone you've got the numbers on?" Alice asks.

"Then it's just an unfair fight," Russell says.

"Seems fine to me," Alice says.

"I'm not ruling it out," Russell says.

She looks up at him and grins. "What else aren't you ruling out?"

\--

Asim is sitting at his desk in the office, and as far as Russell can tell, he's doublechecking the ledgers, a thing he does with some regularity. Russell is starting to suspect it's because he's not actually that great at maths, but he isn't going to say anything.

He hasn't noticed Russell, and Russell just watches him for a moment before speaking. "Hey."

Asim blinks and looks up at him, and very suddenly it becomes real for Russell; Asim has that look on his face, like how he looks at Alice, like how Russell really had no idea was being directed at him. Suddenly this is not theoretical and it is not an idle idea. This is happening now, if he can just find the words and the courage.

He's so much less worried about that second part than he expected to be.

"Hey," Asim says, putting his pencil aside and stretching. "What's new? I've been stuck in here all day." Russell hesitates, and Asim frowns. "Something wrong?"

Russell reaches over, shuts the door to the office, closing the two of them in. "Let's talk about some things."


End file.
